The present invention relates to telephone answering machines and more particularly to systems for indicating when messages are available for playback in the memory of such machines and for associated memory management functions within solid state telephone answering machines.
In the past telephone answering machines have recorded messages on magnetic tape. The messages were then available for playback serially in the order in which received. However, no function was provided for displaying the number of messages present in memory and the number of empty slots or memory banks available for new messages. Further, no capability was generally provided to access messages out of the order in which they were received.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system for displaying the number of messages present in the memory of a telephone answering machine and the number of available memory banks for recording additional messages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a memory management system for a telephone answering machine which operates in cooperation with a message display system for selecting messages for playback in accordance with the display and which allows messages to be rapidly accessed in any order desired.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a display and memory management system for a solid state telephone answering machine which is economical to produce and efficient in operation.